Lucha Underground Analysis (October 4th, 2017): Bloody retribution

Welcome to this week’s Lucha Underground review! It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. A rivalry years in the making finally reaches its conclusion this week!

I know we’re all salivating for the action so, let’s jump into it.

Ivelisse has returned and she immediately confronts her boyfriend Jeremiah Crane. They start arguing and it’s apparent Jeremiah is telling her he wants to end things. Ivelisse continues to ask who this mystery woman is before he finally tells her it’s Catrina who he’s really in love with.

She says she doesn’t need him or any man and when she’s done beating Catrina, she’s coming for him! He calls her a b*tch and she winds up kicking him across the room into a bathroom stall.

After this encounter we get to our anticipated match up of the night. Catrina is accompanied to the ring by Mil Muertes before the match begins.

Catrina beckons for Ivelisse to arrive. Ivelisse comes running into the squared circle from the back and spears Catrina to the ground. She ground and pounds Catrina into the mat.

The crowd goes wild and immediately supports Ivelisse. Catrina comes back and is able to turn the tables. She rolls Ivelisse out of the ring and they continue fighting back and forth. They slap each other hard across the chest before Catrina tosses Ivelisse on the ground.

Catrina goes into Dario Cueto’s office and grabs a glass bottle. Ivelisse goes after her and barges right into a bottle in her face. Catrina pulls Ivelisse up off the floor and smashes another bottle in her face. Catrina hits another bottle over Ivelisse’s head.

Now bleeding, Ivelisse catches her breath but Catrina comes at her again and starts dragging her body by her hair up the stairs into the audience. Ivelisse sits on the middle step and Catrina kisses her. She goes in again but Ivelisse smacks Catrina away smashes her head into the guardrail.

They continue their way into the crowd as Catrina trails behind Ivelisse. As Ivelisse begins to make her way back to the ring, Catrina kicks her in the face. Catrina starts baiting Ivelisse but Ivelisse kicks her hard in the neck. Ivelisse grabs Catrina’s head and starts bashing her head into a nearby chair.

Catrina makes her way back into the ring and moves toward her sacred stone, which is sitting in a corner of the ring. Ivelisse follows her and hits Catrina with a back elbow in the corner. Ivelisse distances herself from Catrina again and starts to go back to hit her but Catrina comes out of the corner with a spear of her own. Catrina performs her signature double underhook driver. She goes for a cover but Ivelisse kicks out.

Catrina goes back to the corner for her stone. She tries to hit Ivelisse with it but Ivelisse kicks her away. She hits a spine buster on Catrina and then Ivelisse grabs the stone. Catrina gets up and hits Ivelisse in the gut. They start fighting over the stone.

Ivelisse hits her with the stone and then plants her with a DDT for the win!

Ivelisse holds up the stone in celebration as the crowd showers her with approval but then out of nowhere Jeremiah hits Ivelisse with a hammer. He continues to hit her previously injured ankle with a hammer. Catrina slithers into the ring for her stone and then leaves.

After the match, Fenix squares off against Marty “The Moth” Martinez in a Mask vs Hair match.

This past season the Martinez siblings chose Melissa Santos as their next toy. A few weeks ago Fenix and Melissa stepped into the ring against the Martinez siblings but their love wasn’t strong enough to withstand the power of The Moth and Mariposa.

During the match Mariposa tried to help her brother gain the upper hand several times.During the match Fenix landed on Mariposa outside the ring and took her out. During this scuffle Marty basically starting arguing with Mariposa as she tried to recover. Mariposa argued back, gave him the middle finger and walked off.

Melissa gets involved briefly as a distraction while Marty tries to rip Fenix’s face off. However, Marty corners her and she slaps him and kicks him in the groin while Fenix recovers and makes a come back.

A bloody and partially unmasked Fenix would capture a win and together with Melissa would shave Marty’s head! Before Marty’s head would get shaved Mariposa came down to the ring and it looked like she was about to help Marty, but no she hits him in the face with a chair! She then handcuffs him to the banister so Fenix and Melissa can shave his head.

Thoughts: This match was never going to be a technical masterpiece but that’s OK because a very long feud such as this deserves a violent climax. Catrina also hasn’t properly entered the ring in some time so it was to be expected that her skills weren’t going to be as deep as more experienced wrestlers in the Temple. None the less, Ivelisse was a great dance partner for her.

The match was vicious and tight. I appreciate the risks involved, especially the willingness on Ivelisse’s part to bleed. It’s not often that we see women with crimson masks and it means a lot to have women exhibit this to be on the same playing field with the men. Ivelisse’s character is a tough as nails, no nonsense, empowered woman.

And I’m pleased that off the bat we saw a confrontation between her and Jeremiah. I feel that if she wasn’t injured earlier this season, we might have ventured into different territory with them. However, I’m so glad they did this confrontation and revelation right away and she knew about his infatuation with Catrina.

This automatically put more fire under her to finally beat Catrina once and for all. Catrina did exceptionally well here as well. She’s more of an enigmatic presence and mysterious character, and to see her go after Ivelisse with such savagery was right in line with everything we know about her.

The story told was also solid. Ivelisse has finally conquered her demons. However, with Jeremiah’s inclusion at the end of the match, I can’t help but wonder if this writes her off for a possible next season or if this just puts forth another demon that she has to vanquish when LU returns? Ivelisse is the strongest woman in the Temple next to Taya and I enjoy her story of overcoming her injuries and set backs, I hope someday she’ll get her due and become the second woman to win the LU Championship.

Onto the second match, I really want to see Mariposa strike out on her own and it looks like we may be heading that way, I hope. I feel as though her in ring talents get wasted sometimes. We definitely have not seen everything that she can do!

The match itself was great and Melissa got to exact some revenge by shaving Marty’s head, this is the right ending for their story. This was a great episode!

In the upcoming week we’ll be seeing a Last Luchadora Standing Match and I know Taya is going to bring it! Additionally, a battle for the gauntlet will take place, will Catrina get involved?

What did you think of last night’s episode? What do you think will happen with Ivelisse now? Do you want to see Catrina in the ring again? Sound off in the comments below.